A knowledge based approach for automatic process plan generation in an electronic assembly environment

SUMMARY

In this paper important issues in the automatic generation of process plans are addressed. Since the conventional method of electronic assembly planning is subjective and depends greatly on the skills, memory, knowledge, and experience of the planners, inconsistencies in the plan arise, which in turn create problems in the manufacturing environment. An automatic electronic assembly planning system that would offer advantages over manual systems has been implemented. Due to frequent advances in technology, the electronic industry is a very dynamic one. This affects the effectiveness of the current process plans and the applicability of the system that generates them. The framework of a system which takes into account the dynamic nature of the environment is presented as an example. A network representation of plans that allows for flexibility and modularity in the planning system is being used. A hybrid architecture consisting of production rules, procedural algorithms and a hierarchical database has been implemented using an expert system shell.